Back in June 2011 when NBC won the bidding over ESPN and Fox for the Olympics, I posted the U.S. broadcast rights fee for the Olympics since 1960. Back then, it was thought that the Peacock had overbid for the four Olympics in the contract, the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the 2016 Games in Rio, the 2018 and 2020 Games whose sites were unknown then. We now know the 2018 Olympics will be in Pyeongchang, South Korea and 2020 in Tokyo.
With the latest news that NBC has signed rights to the Olympics through 2032, I thought it was time to bring this back plus add the rights for the Games through 2032.
The Olympics on TV
| YEAR | LOCATION | NETWORK | AVG. PRIME-TIME RATING | U.S. RIGHTS FEE |
| 1960 | Rome | CBS | NA | $390,000 |
| 1960 | Squaw Valley, Calif. | CBS | NA | $50,000 |
| 1964 | Tokyo | NBC | NA | $1.5 million |
| 1964 | Innsbruck, Austria | ABC | NA | $600,000 |
| 1968 | Mexico City | ABC | 14.3 | $4.5 million |
| 1968 | Grenoble, France | ABC | 13.4 | $2.5 million |
| 1972 | Munich, Germany | ABC | 25 | $7.5 million |
| 1972 | Sapporo, Japan | NBC | 17.2 | $6.4 million |
| 1976 | Montreal | ABC | 24.8 | $25 million |
| 1976 | Innsbruck, Austria | ABC | 21.7 | $10 million |
| 1980 | Moscow | NBC | NA | $87 million* |
| 1980 | Lake Placid, N.Y. | ABC | 23.6 | $15.5 million |
| 1984 | Los Angeles | ABC | 23 | $225 million |
| 1984 | Sarajevo, Yugoslavia | ABC | 18.2 | $91.5 million |
| 1988 | Seoul, South Korea | NBC | 17.9 | $300 million |
| 1988 | Calgary | ABC | 19.3 | $309 million |
| 1992 | Barcelona, Spain | NBC | 17.5 | $401 million |
| 1992 | Albertville, France | CBS | 18.7 | $243 million |
| 1994 | Lillehammer, Norway | CBS | 27.8 | $300 million |
| 1996 | Atlanta | NBC | 21.6 | $456 million |
| 1998 | Nagano, Japan | CBS | 16.3 | $375 million |
| 2000 | Sydney, Australia | NBC | 13.8 | $715 million |
| 2002 | Salt Lake City | NBC | 19.2 | $555 million |
| 2004 | Athens, Greece | NBC | 15 | $793 million |
| 2006 | Turin, Italy | NBC | 12.2 | $613 million |
| 2008 | Beijing | NBC | 16.2 | $894 million |
| 2010 | Vancouver | NBC | 13.8 | $820 million |
| 2012 | London | NBC | 17.5 | $1.18 billion |
| 2014 | Sochi, Russia | NBC | 12.3 | $775 million |
| 2016 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | NBC | NA | $1.226 billion |
| 2018 | Pyeongchang, South Korea | NBC | NA | $950 million |
| 2020 | Tokyo, Japan | NBC | NA | $1.43 billion |
| 2022/2024 | TBD | NBC | NA | $2.5 billion |
| 2026/2028 | TBD | NBC | NA | $2.55 billion |
| 2030/2032 | TBD | NBC | NA | $2.6 billion |
NA: Not available; no television ratings system was in place before the 1968 Games.
* The United States boycotted the 1980 Summer Games. NBC’s coverage was limited to highlights and two anthology-style specials after the Games were completed, though the network still paid the full rights fee.
Sources: SportsBusiness Journal research, U.S. Olympic Committee, The Nielsen Cos., Steve Wilson (Associated Press)
And that will do it.
